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Monday, Advent Week 3: Thirst

Psalms of Advent, December 12, 2022

You are invited to join me as we listen to Psalm 42, the second to last of the Advent psalms for this season of seeking, waiting, anticipating, and searching for the light that shines in the darkness. Psalm 42 is familiar to many people because of the memorable imagery of the first verse: “As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, my God.” The entire psalm may be found here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2042&version=NRSVUE.

Have you ever longed for water? Have you ever been really, physically, thirsty? A long, hot hike on an August day in the middle of a desert in Utah taught me about thirst and the very real, human desire for water. Halfway through the hike, under a blazing sun, I had finished my water. It would take two hours to get back to the car and then to a gas station or café, and I passed no one who might share some water on the way. When I finally found water, it was with great relief, gratitude, and rejoicing.

Have you ever longed for something else, been really, spiritually, thirsty? Such is the case for the psalmist here. While he is most likely lamenting exile and the dispersion of his people, the Jews, this poem speaks to any of us in general terms of danger, loneliness, threats, grief, depression, anxiety, trust, and hope. No matter who we are or what we believe, we have all, at times, been thirsty for an answer, an assurance, a justice, a reckoning, a solution, a Love that is bigger than our situation.

Thirst is not a choice, preference, or whim. Because we are human, water is a necessity for life. For this psalmist, so is God. I go back to Psalm 1 and the image of the tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in due season. Sometimes we do, indeed, go through parched seasons, but the hope that this psalm places in God is that these times are just that, seasons, and that if we stay grounded in the Divine, in the Mystery, in Love, in Light, we will again yield fruit. This promise is one I root in my heart.

Blessings ~ Rosemary

Photo credit: Pixabay

Sunday, Advent Week 3

The Psalms of Advent, December 11, 2022

Please light a candle and spend some Sabbath time reading and reflecting on this glorious psalm of praise, Psalm 146, which we have accompanied these last three days. Feast in the richness of each word. Rest in its assurances. Join in its cacophony of praise. And be blessed.

Psalm 146
1 Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD, my soul.
2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.

Tomorrow, Psalm 42 will welcome us in. Until then, blessings ~ Rosemary

Photo credit: Rosemary McMahan

Saturday, Advent Week 2: A Poem

December 10, 2022

Please light a candle and join me on this Advent journey and exploration of the Psalms of Advent. In my last blog, I wondered about the invitation to make praise both a worship and an everyday practice and experience. This poem is the response to my reflection on that. Like the psalm we have looked at the last two days, Psalm 146, this, too, is a song of praise.

Sun Poem

Shouldn’t there be a ritual for the rising of the sun
each day
with candles lit and dancing,
hands upheld in welcome,
songs lifted in praise?
Watch how the sky prepares itself
swathed in azure and violet
how the trees await, limbs lifted
naked and unashamed.
The hilltop holds itself steady
as the first sliver of light appears
behind it and fog like the veils of a dancer
cloaks the water’s face
in preparation for welcome.
Shouldn’t there be a ritual for the rising of the sun
each day as it crests the horizon
in full glory, round and fat and fiery
billions of years of hot white light
a miracle
that blazes into our eyes
so that we turn away, as if it were
the face of God?
Now it ignites the fog
shimmering in pink, turns the dew
to flickering light, droplets of water
on trees into iridescent strings
of pearls, calls forth
the redbirds in
scarlet robes to sing
aubades.
Shouldn’t there be a ritual, each day,
for the rising of the sun, for the promise
of new beginnings, for the grace granted
for another chance? Shouldn’t we bow
before it, weep in humble gratitude
tremble at the power that grants
us faithful constancy, for the fact
that what could burn us instead
blesses?

Blessings to you ~ Rosemary

Poem and Photo credit: Rosemary McMahan

Friday, Advent Week 2: Praise

Psalms of Advent, Dec. 9, 2022

You are invited to light a candle and join me in reflecting again on Psalm 146: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20146&version=NRSVUE. Yesterday, we sat with the word “sustains.” Today, we look at the word “praise” which begins and ends this psalm as well as psalms 147-150, the final psalms in this ancient collection of poetry. To whom is the praise directed? To the LORD, a title that becomes a drumbeat, repeated eleven times in this ten-verse psalm. The psalmist makes clear that the LORD is the one to be praised because it is the LORD, not mere mortals, not princes and kings, who has set prisoners free, lifted up those bowed down, loved the righteous, created heaven and earth, kept faith, sustained the orphan and widow, executed justice, and given food to the hungry.

This psalm is a call to praise and a call to trust. As one interpreter writes, “In biblical terms, to praise God is to live, and to live is to praise God. Praise is thus both liturgy and lifestyle; the two are inseparable.” * Think of our various practices of worship and the many different names used to praise the Holy One. How often do we take that praise out of the sanctuary/temple/mosque/nature and into our daily, everyday lives where there are bills to pay, doctors to visit, work to be done, relationships to mend, bosses to be pleased, children to be fed, and on and on and on? How might our lives and the lives of those around us be different, be better, brighter, more hopeful if we also made praise a lifestyle?

On these dreary winter days with the never-ending bad news a constant shroud, praise often seems the farthest action from our minds. No doubt the Israelites faced many of the same troubles we do, including exile. Yet they still sang praise and were encouraged to live praise. There will also be something to complain, fret or worry about, and there will always be something to praise. If our hope is to be Light-bearers and to shine that light into the darkness, then perhaps the practice of praise is the place to start. We are breathing. We are reading and writing and thinking and praying and hoping. I am thankful for all of that this Advent, and I praise God for you. Blessings ~ Rosemary

*The New Interpreters’ Bible, Vol. IV, pg. 1265.

Photo credit: Pixabay

Thursday, Advent Week 2: Sustains

Thursday, Advent Week 2: Sustain

The Psalms of Advent, Dec. 8, 2022

Please feel free to light a candle and join me in our reflection on our next Psalm of Advent, Psalm 146, as we receive a vibrant psalm of praise for the Holy One. Verses 5-10 are designated for worship, meditation, and prayer, but the entire psalm is a gift, and the opening verses help illuminate the rest of the psalm:

Psalm 146

Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD, my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD. (New International Version)

This song-poem of praise is the first of the last five psalms in the Book of Psalms included in the group called “The Hallel” because each psalm begins and ends with the word “praise” (Halleluia). Scholarly opinions vary about who actually wrote them, and that question seems unimportant when we hear these full-blown, exquisite, praise songs that include individual, corporate (Israel) and all of creation singing the wonders of the Creator. Read 146 out loud, as psalms are meant to be read, and who wrote them will be the least of your worry.

We could spend at entire Advent season on meaningful words in this psalm, yet the one that invited me in is “sustains”: “The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow.” I suspect that is because I, like the entire world, have needed something to sustain me since COVID-19 hit in 2020 and since all the political turmoil here in the States after the presidential election in that same year. I still need sustenance that is much deeper and more faithful than what “princes” (verse 3) can provide.

In the winter of 2020-21, during the lockdowns, I recall how much sustenance the trees gave me. I had never hiked as much as I did that season or that year, and the trees were my faithful companions. In the winter, I noticed, perhaps for the first time, the sleekness of their gray limbs, the elegant composition of their form. Even in the dying season, stripped naked, they stood tall, rooted and reaching.

In the spring, as the trees began to leaf out, the newborn green gave me hope. Birth does happen. Here in the South, spring tends to be a stormy season, often bringing tornados, yet as the wind whirled and whipped these infant leaves, the leaves held on: a lesson for my own experience. In the summer, in full shade, the trees offered steady respite and relief, and in the autumn, as they prepared for death, they gracefully and trustingly let go.

Yes, trees sustained me and I kept going back to Psalm 1: “He (she) is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in due season” (3). The Spirit of God encouraged me to be like a tree, to hold steady, to be grounded, no matter what was/is/ will be going on around me. I am still trying to do so, and I give praise to the Creator of trees as the bare trees offer hope in this dark season once more.

I leave you with a gift from songwriter Carrie Newcomer, a song about letting go and about hope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c4mW9MRe-k. I also wonder what gives you sustenance this Advent season. Your reply would be a gift. Blessings ~ Rosemary

Photo credit: Rosemary McMahan

Wednesday, Advent Week 2: A Poem

The Psalms of Advent, December 7, 2022

Since yesterday’s post on Psalm 21 and my thoughts on the word “presence” (https://wordpress.com/view/spirit-reflections.org), I’ve had a desire to write a poem about the presence of the Divine as my meditation on this psalm. I thought of that Presence who revealed Itself in evening walks in gardens, in burning bushes, on the tops of mountains and in mountain caves, in crossing over to new lands, in the middle of a bustling, dirty city at census time, in the temple teaching, in the towns along the lake, in a boat on a stormy night with frightened friends. But I couldn’t get that particular poem to take shape, so I followed where the words chose to take me, to this Poem of Advent:

Flame

“The light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it” (John 1:5).

In the early hour
of a sullen December morning,
leaden sky pressed against
the windows, rain drizzling down
glazed panes,
I light a candle.
Outside, the barren trees
seem wearied
as if they would like
to tuck themselves down
to rest upon the dampened
ground.
I light a candle.
Even the birds
have gone silent,
the clamor of a world
in turmoil too much
weight for their song.
I light a candle.
Has December always been
thus? Wars and rumors of war
traveling on the winter wind?
Justice and mercy crumbling
like mountains sinking
to the frigid sea?
Sly shadows desiring only to smother
the light?
Since the beginning,
has it always been like this–
darkness snaking its way,
measuring its forward motion,
to extinguish whatever shines?

The flame of the candle
burns on
steady and still
casting a single beam
against the spattered
window. I light another
and another
candle, shadows resist
and dissolve. The rain still falls,
the gray face of the sky
still peers through
the windows
yet the light shines on
and the darkness cannot understand,
cannot overcome it.
I open my lips
to whisper a prayer:
May I be the light,
may you be the light,
stemming from the Source
that continues to flame upwards
to sing.

My Advent prayer is that we be the Light-Bearers who carry the presence of the Divine Light into this much troubled and fractured world. Blessings ~ Rosemary

Tuesday, Advent Week 2: Presence

The Psalms of Advent, December 6, 2022

Psalm 21 is abundant with words seeking to be heard and treasured in the heart: rejoice, joy, desire, request, and love, as just a sampling:

The king rejoices in your strength, LORD.
How great is his joy in the victories you give!
You have granted him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
You came to greet him with rich blessings
and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—
length of days, for ever and ever.
Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty.
Surely you have granted him unending blessings
and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
For the king trusts in the LORD;
through the unfailing love of the Most High
he will not be shaken. . . .
Be exalted in your strength, LORD;
we will sing and praise your might.
(Verses 1-7; 13. New International Version)

The word that beckons most to me, though, as I spend a second day in this Advent psalm’s company, is presence: “Surely you have granted him (the king) unending blessings/ and made him glad with the joy of your presence.”

Presence is such a rich word. In a world where loneliness, isolation, and cut-off abound, presence beckons like a candle flame. It is a sacred gift we give another, the gift of our attention, our time, our love, our company, our selves. Sometimes words are not even necessary. Presence itself says, “You matter to me.”

When I think of the nativity story, I realize the importance and demonstration of presence. We find Joseph present to Mary, when he could have taken an easier way out. We find Mary and Elizabeth, amazed pregnant cousins of different generations, present to one another. We find angels (the highest of the high) present to shepherds (the lowest of the low). The old prophets, Anna and Simeon, share their presence in humble and faithful anticipation of a promise. And the child? He is named Emmanuel, which means presence: “God WITH us.” If Jesus offered anything in his ministry, he offered the gift of his presence, particularly to those who mattered to no one else. The season of Advent reminds us that he still does.

So, I reflected on who has been present in my own life when I have been lonely, confused, or bereft. Who are the people who have simply been with me? Then I thought about who I have been present to when she or he needed someone, and who, right now in this “happiest time of the year,” would appreciate my presence. When we are present, we bear the gift of God-Light, the same light God promises and shines on us.

Thank you for offering your gift of presence to me in this blog. I am so grateful. Blessings ~ Rosemary

Photo credit ~ Rosemary McMahan

Monday, Advent Week 2: Shaken

The Psalms of Advent

Greetings to you as we begin the second week of Advent and our communal journey to that which is life-giving and light-giving in this season of darkness, waiting, and anticipation. You are invited to light a candle and join me as we unwrap the next Psalm of Advent, Psalm 21, verses 1-7, 13:

Psalm 21 is another royal psalm about a king. It begins with grateful acknowledgment for all that the Lord/Yahweh/God has done for King David and any other of the numerous kings of Israel. It is verse 7 that captures my attention in the midst of this abundant thanksgiving: “For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.”

Shaken. There is the word. Certainly, kings and leaders of any type and nature have cause to be shaken, either by the events of the world or by rivalries. If, in fact, King David himself wrote this psalm, he had much to be shaken about: adultery and murder being two “concerns.” Yet this king trusts enough in God’s love not to be shaken.

Shaken. What a powerful word that applies not just to kings. I think of the Ukrainian people shaken this past year by a neighboring country invading them. I think of those Russian people shaken because they voiced their dissent and now find themselves in prison and their families in trouble. I think of the victims of hate speech who are shaken by evil words thrust at them and shaken by what others, influenced by those words, might do to them. I think of parents shaken when their children go missing; I think of those shaken by medical test results they never suspected; I think of the partner shaken by the unexpected departure of the other; the person shaken by loss of income, and on and on. I doubt any of us will get through this life without being shaken. Yet, while the world and others might fail us, this psalmist claims that we will not be shaken by our unfailing trust in the Lord; instead, we will be grounded, come what may.

I am reminded of a season in my own life when I was shaken to the depths. I clearly remember driving by a church at the time where the marquee posted a quotation by Corrie Ten Boom, a German concentration camp survivor (who watched her sister, Betsie, die there). Ten Boom wrote, “There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.” There is NO pit SO DEEP that GOD (by whatever holy name we address God) is not DEEPER still. That quotation became my lifeline. It pulled me back to resurrection.

If seeking Light in the darkness is about anything, it surely is about hope, resurrection and new life. It surely is about what waits at the end of the tunnel and across the empty desert. It surely is about grounding in those times when we feel shaken. It surely is about Advent.

Blessings ~ Rosemary

Photo credit: Pixabay

Sunday, Advent Week 2

The Psalms of Advent

Over the last few days, we have listened together to Psalm 72, verses 1-7 and 18-19, the Advent psalm appointed for the liturgy of worship for this second Sunday in Advent. Below are links to two translations (the more formal and poetic New Revised Standard Version and the easier to read Common English Bible) and one paraphrase, written in every day language (The Message). Denominations across the world who use the Revised Common Lectionary to select their scripture passages will be reciting or hearing this same ancient psalm, written for and about kings who lived long, long ago, yet a psalm that still speaks with relevance to us.

I have shared the words or phrases I have heard. Today, I take Sabbath to sit with my reflections, while also wondering what you have heard? What word or phrase has invited you, guided you, spoken to you, or surprised or bothered you? What might the universal Spirit be saying to you in this season of seeking? I would be honored to know.

Blessings on your Sabbath ~ Rosemary

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2072&version=NRSVUE

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+72&version=CEB https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2072&version=MSG

Saturday, Advent Week 1: Sacred Reading

The Psalms of Advent, December 2, 2022

You are invited to light a candle and join me on this journey of reflecting on the psalms chosen for the Season of Advent, most recently Psalm 72, found here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2072&version=NRSVUE. A couple of days ago, I mentioned that I am not a scholar of the psalms. I simply chose them as something to explore in this season of expectation and waiting. I appreciated very much what a fellow blogger posted: “I actually love that you are not a scholar of the Psalms. The vast majority of us are not. Your thoughts and reflections remind me that the Psalms are for me, just ordinary, not scholarly me” (Visit her blog on spirituality: Living on Life’s Labyrinth). Yes, the psalms are exactly for “ordinary” us.

The Book of Psalms comes in all shades of color: the red of anger, the black of despair, the purple of royalty, the blue of joy, the gray of seeking, the gold of thanksgiving. No emotion is “inappropriate” for this book of holy poetic scripture. No emotion is too bad to lift before God. Psalms speaks to the totality of human emotions, those we label both good and bad, that make us who we are: ordinary people.

My approach to these psalms has been to use the ancient spiritual practice of “lectio divina,” which means “sacred reading.” Instead of reading a piece of text for information, lectio divina (which is NOT bible study) invites us to read it for transformation, which is quite a significant difference. We don’t rush through it. Information feeds the head; transformation touches the heart. The purpose of lectio is to allow time for a word or phrase to catch our attention or touch a deep part of us and so become a guide and/or an invitation as we walk our journeys. Lectio is similar to hearing that still, small voice of God, Being, Universe whisper personally to us.

So, I do not attempt to explain what the psalms are about or figure out who wrote them. I do not research much, if anything, about each individual psalm other than what the footnotes may offer me. What I do, instead, is to respect each psalm as the ancient piece of wisdom literature that it is. I listen to the voice of the writer for the ancient, and yet still universal, wisdom that is shared. I read slowly, paying attention to each word until a word or phrase tugs me back, invites me in. Then, I meditate on it, trying (not always succeeding) to open my heart to the Light and to Love and to what the Spirit may be saying or how the Spirit may be nudging.

All of this is to say that what I hear, you may not hear. (Please see my last couple of posts as examples.) How I interpret the message may be completely different from your interpretation. I am neither right nor wrong, and neither are you. My hope is that when I share my ponderings, I do so universally, in a way that speaks to ordinary people, like me, no matter who they are, who they worship, or where they are on their spiritual journeys. In this season where so many spiritual traditions are seeking the Light, I pray that these psalms are flickers along the way.

Blessings ~ Rosemary

How the Psalms Came to Be

Imagine dozens, hundreds,
thousands, no, millions of people
all people
different people
ordinary people
standing under the sky
cobalt and immense above
them.
In their hands,
all their hands,
see birds of color:
the hot red of fiery anger
the still blue of deep joy.
the heavy black of aching grief
the harvest gold of sincere gratitude
the pale sage of silent solitude
the ash gray of ceaseless longing.
Myriads and multitudes
of colored birds
are tethered to wrists,
birds nodding, fluttering
sleeping, restless
contained, straining
when a whisper
of Spirit, a word on a wind,
invites release
and the hundreds
and thousands and millions
of tethered birds, (mine, too,
and yours)
are cut loose to fling their colors
up into the open and immense sky
writing a rainbow above the people
while a voice blesses from the heavens,
“I receive it all.”

Picture credit: Rosemary McMahan